Extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) is a promising next-generation lithography solution for emerging technology nodes. Integrated chips formed using EUVL will have minimum feature sizes of less than 32 nanometers. Such small feature sizes allow contaminants (e.g., dust, airborne microbes, chemical vapors, etc.) to damage integrated chips during fabrication. To prevent such contaminants from damaging integrated chips, integrated chips are fabricated in clean rooms having low levels of contaminants.
However, even the best clean rooms still contain contaminants that can fall on a lithography reticle and cause defects. To prevent such contamination of a reticle, many lithography systems use pellicles. Pellicles are optically transmitting thin films (i.e., membranes) that are disposed over a reticle to provide protection from the effects of particulate contamination by preventing contaminant particles from landing on a reticle.